Recording

Baby
Gal Costa

Independently chosen for2 of our lists. Here is what each of them said.

Released

1968

Label

Philips

On

Tropicália and Sung to Someone

Updated

2026-08-31

1. 05

   Ranked No. 5 in Tropicália

   Caetano's lyric is a list of consumer instructions — learn English, drink Coca-Cola — sung with total sincerity. Satire and love song at once, and Costa refuses to tell you which.

2. ·

   Picked by Sung to Someone

   Caetano Veloso wrote it as a list of things you need to learn — the swimming pool, the margarine, me. Gal Costa sings them to one person in the year Brazil's dictatorship closed its fist. Addressed to a lover, and every word of it is also addressed past them.